Surface condenser.



L. D. LOVEKFN.

SURFACE CONDENSER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-311911.

Lw fiwo Patente May18,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

I L. D. LOVHWNn SURFACE CONDENSER,

APPLICATION FILED AUG.3, 19111 INVENTOR IPmtani-M M (mama WITNESSES L. D. LOVEKIN.

Patented May 18 1915.

3 SHEET$-SHEET 3.

OQQQOOQQQ OQOOQOOQ OQOOOOOOQ OOOOQOOO OOOOOOOOO ,U :QOOOOOOO OQOQOQIDQO JQOOOOOQO OOOOOQQO P B V INVETOR A A TTORNE Y LUTHER D. LOVEKIN, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SURFACE CONDENSER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 118, 1915.

Application filed August 3, 1911. Serial No. 642,107.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUTHER D. LovnxrN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Surface Condensers, of which the following is a true and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

My present invention relates to surface condensers and has for its prime object to provide a simple and effective condenser construction suitable for use in comparatively large units in marine service, and in which the condenser tubes are .rigidly secured at their ends to the tube sheets as by expanding the end of the tubes. This method of connecting tubes into tube sheets, while commonly employed in steam generating boilers, has not been generally adopted in condensers because of the diificulties resulting from the unequal expansion of the different tubes of a condenser. In con? densers the-temperatures of the tubes are constantly fluctuating and the difference between the temperature of the upper and lower tubes of a single condenser operating with a varying load is constantly fluctuating through quite a wide range. In consequence of this, it has heretofore been the practice to provide stuffing box connections for one, if not both ends of each condenser tube in order to accommodate the expansion and contraction of the tubes. Such stuffing box connections are objectionable for various reasons, one of which is the difiiculty of avoiding leakage especially as the tempera; tures to which they are occasionally subjected are high enough to injuriously affect the packing in the stufiing boxes so that leakage results which is particularly objectionable in marine service.

The bowing of the tubes either upward or rangement which I prefer to employ.

downward but not horizontally makes it possible to obtain a spacing of the tubes with respect to the side walls of the condenser casing regardless of whether these sidewalls are in vertical planes or are curved, which closely approximates the ordinary arrangement of the tubes to the side walls of the condenser casing. This makes unnecessary special or unusual form of the condenser casing in order to avoid'pock'ets.

or bypasses between the steam inlet and water of condensation outlet connections at the .top and bottom respectively, which if existing would interfere with the efficiency of the condenser.

My improved condenser possesses features of novelty in details as well as in its general arrangement, all of which contribute to a simple, reliable and efiective condenser construction.

The various features of novelty which characterize my invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification. For a better understanding of the invention, however and the advantages possessed by it reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which I have illustrated and described the various forms in which my invention may be embodied.

Of the drawings,Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of condenser constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, the head B being removed. Fig. 3 is a partial longitudinal section of the condenser shown in- Fig. l but on a larger scale. Fig. 4: is a similar section on a still larger scale showing a preferred form of tube and tube sheet connection. Fig. 5 is an elevation of a portion of. a condenser illustrating an intermediate condenser tube supportingFar- 1g. 6 is a sectional plan taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a somewhat diagrammatic elevation of a portion of a modified construction. Fig. 8 is a section on the line 88 of Fig. 7, and Fig. 9 is a view taken similarly to Fig. 7 showing a further modification. In the drawings and referring first to the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, A, represents the casing body of the con denser which is oval in cross section.

represents a steam inlet connection at the top of the casing A and A a water of'condensation outlet connection at the bottom of the condenser casing. B, B represent the end heads of the casing, the head B being formed with a cooling water inlet B and a cooling water outlet B C, C, represent the tube sheets clamped between the ends of the condenser casing body A and the end heads. D, D, represent the condenser tubes, the top and bottom outlines of the body of the tubes being represented in F ig. 1 by the lines D and D The condenser tubes D as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 are upwardly bowed and each tube is expanded at each end to fill the central circumferential groove portion C of the tube receiving passage C formed in the tube sheet. The tube passages C are preferably coaxial with the ends of the inserted tubes and consequently slightly inclined to the planes of the tube sheets when the latter are parallel as shown, though it will be understood that this parallelism is not essential. The tube sheets instead of being vertical as shown may be perpendicular for instance to the ends of the tubes though this is not preferred as the tubes in the different horizontal rows would be of different lengths. To facilitate the insertion of the tubes into the tube sheet the inner ends of each tube assage 0 ma advanta eousl P y g y be flared as indicated at C and at its outer end the passage is similarly flared at C the end of the tube being expanded into contact with the wall of the flared portion, C

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the tubes are anchored against transverse displacement at their centers by the fixed apertured supporting plate A The arc-shaped portions of each tube at each side of the supporting plate A are free to bow. The use of one or more supporting plates, such'as the plate A, depends on the length of the tubes and other conditions of use.

To properly space the tubes and prevent undesirable and particularly unequal sagging of the tubes in the same horizontal row, I may employ the movable tube supporting provisions shown in Figs. 5 and 6. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the tubes in each horizontal row pass at their centers, or at two or, more points between their ends through horizontal floating spacer bars E which have apertures E one for each tube in the row to which the bar pertains, these apertures being preferably flared at theirends to facilitate the introduction of the tubes. At their ends the bars E are guided by suitable provisions such as channel bars F secured to the condenser casing body. The bars E are formed with enlargements a surrounding each aperture E, and the enlargements or bosses of adjacent bars E nest together.

With the tube supporting provisions shown in Figs. 5 and 6 it is apparent that all the tubes in one row must rise and fall together at the points along their lengths at which they are engaged by the corresponding spacing bar E. In practice with such a condenser as is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in

usual, the fluctuations in temperature within the condensing chamber are of progressively increasing amplitude as the distance from the bottom of the condensing space increases. In general, therefore, each row of tubes passing through a common floating spacing bar E will expand more, and hence rise farther than the row of tubes beneath it, and will expand less than the row of tubes QbOX'G it.

With the arrangement described it will be apparent that the spacing of the tubes with respect to the side walls of the casing is essentially unaffected by the fact that the tubes are bowed, and the curvature of the tubes does not create bypasses or pockets for the steam when the tubes are inclosed by casings of the usual form. When the side walls of the condenser casing body are curved as in Fig. 2, the centers of the tubes in the lower portion of the condenser are more remote from the casing wall than the ends of the tubes and the centers of the tubes in the upper portion of the condenser are closer to the casing walls than are the ends of these tubes, but since the curvature of the tubes is small this difference is practically negligible and to some extent the increased space between the ends of the upper tubes and the side walls of the casing is compensated for by the decreased space between the ends of the lower tubes and the side walls of the casing. This disadvantage, which is more apparent than of rea1 importance, is of course avoided where the condenser casings are rectangular in cross sections, as are the condenser casings A A shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

I prefer to bow the tubesupward as shown in Figs. 1 and 7, rather than downward as shown in Fig. 9, since with the tubes bowed upward the end of the tubes and the water contained in them assist in staying the tube This advantage is sheets C, C, in place. ordinarily ofsmall importance, however. With the tubes bowed upward there is of course a theoreticalpossibility for the accumulation of air at the tops of the arch formed by 7 each tube. From a practical standpoint this is ordinarily a matter of no which the steam to be condensed is admitted at the top of the condensing space as is known to me it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the form of the apparatus disclosed without departing from the spirit of my invention, and that under some conditions it may be of advantage to use certain features of the invention without a corresponding use of the others.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is;

1. In a surface condenser the combination with a casing body having an upper steam supply inlet and a lower water of condensa tion outlet and tube. sheets at the ends of said casing, of tubes substantially horizontal but slightly curved in vertical planes rigidly connected at their ends to said tube sheets and interposed between said inlet and outlet passages.

2. In a surface condenser the combination with a casing body having an upper steam supply inlet and a lower water of condensation outlet and tube sheets at the ends of said casing, of tubes substantially horizontal but slightlyupwardly bowed, expanded at their ends to rigidly connect them to said tube sheets, said tubes being interposed between said inlet and outlet passages.

3. In a surface condenser the combination with a casing body having an upper steam supply inlet and a lower water of condensation outlet and tube sheets at the ends of said casing, of tubes substantially horizontal but slightly curved in vertical planes arranged within "said casing and rigidly connected at their ends to said tube sheets, and

floating tube spacers arranged within said casing between said tube sheets and each engaging some of said tubes.

4. In a surface condenser the combination with a casing having an upper steam supply inlet and a lower water of condensation outlet and tube sheets at the ends of said casing, of tubes substantially horizontal, but slightly curved in vertical planes and arranged in horizontal rows within said casing and rigidly connected at their ends to said tube sheets and horizontal floating tube spacers arranged within said casing and between the' tube sheets and transverse to said tubes and each engaging a horizontal row of tubes.

5. In a surface condenser the combination with a casing having an upper steam supply inlet and a lower water of condensation outlet and tube sheets at the ends of said casing, of tubes substantially horizontal but slightly curved in vertical planes and arranged in staggered horizontal rows within said casing and rigidly connected at their ends to said tube sheets, horizontal floating spacers arranged between said tube sheets within said casing and transverse to said tubes and each formed with a plurality of hollow bosses receiving the tubes in one horizontal row and with said bosses nesting with the bosses of the spacer for an adjacent row of tubes, and vertical guides for the ends of said spacers, connected to the casing.

v LUTHER D. LOVEKIN. Witnesses:

ARNOLD KATZ, D. STEWART. 

